HOUSTON, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Six international business leaders have been elected to the Sonat Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: RIG) Board of Directors, William C. O'Malley, Sonat Offshore chairman and chief executive officer, announced today.
The newly elected board members are: Ronald L. Kuehn, Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer of Birmingham, Ala.- based Sonat Inc.; Donald G. Russell, chairman and chief executive officer of Sonat Exploration Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sonat Inc.; Pedro Cortina, chairman and chief executive officer, EPN, S.A. de C.V., a publicly traded energy service, construction and equipment company, located in Mexico City; Robert J. Lanigan, chairman emeritus, Owens-Illinois, Inc., a company engaged in the manufacture and sale of packaging products; Max L. Lukens, senior vice president, Baker Hughes Incorporated, which is a provider of products and services for the oil, gas and process industries; and Gilbert M.A. Portal, secretariat general, European Petroleum Industry Association. O'Malley is also a member of the Sonat Offshore board.
Kuehn has been with Sonat Inc. (NYSE: SNT) for 23 years and has been chairman of the board since 1986. He also serves as a director of Union Carbide Corporation, Praxair Inc., AmSouth Bancorporation, and Protective Life Corporation.
In 1991, Russell was named executive vice president of Sonat Inc. Before joining Sonat in 1988, Russell served as president of Shell Development Company and in other high-level capacities with Shell Oil Company.
Cortina serves on the board of directors of several of Mexico's large financial institutions. He also is chairman of Mexpetrol de Argentina, S.A. and a director of the daily financial newspaper El Economista.
Lanigan has served as a director of Sonat Inc. since 1983 and is a director of Chrysler Corporation and The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
Lukens also serves as president of Baker Hughes Production Tools. Baker Hughes Incorporated is engaged in the manufacture and sale of oil and gas related drilling and process products.
Portal was associated with Elf Aquitaine for 23 years. He served as the president of Elf Aquitaine Petroleum from 1982 to 1989 and as chairman and chief executive officer of Elf Exploration, Inc. from 1989 to 1990.
"We are proud to have these distinguished individuals serve on our board of directors," O'Malley said. "Sonat Offshore is a worldwide offshore drilling company, and our goal is to be the leader in the technically demanding segments of the industry. We believe that our ability to achieve this goal is significantly enhanced by our board of directors' significant experience, domestically and internationally, in the energy industry."
Sonat Offshore recently completed an initial public offering of 15.5 million shares of common stock. Institutional and private shareholders own 60 percent of the company's stock, and Sonat Inc. owns 40 percent.
Sonat Offshore Drilling Inc. is a worldwide offshore drilling company engaged in contract drilling of oil and gas wells. Headquartered in Houston, the company has set deep-water drilling records and is recognized as an industry leader in deep-water, harsh-environment and turnkey drilling.
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/CONTACT: Thomas W. Barker, Jr., 205-325-3586, or Bruce Connery, 205-325-3898, both of Sonat/
(RIG SNT)